TY - JOUR

T1 - Flexibility, skill and technical change in UK retailing.

AU - Penn, Roger

PY - 1995/7

Y1 - 1995/7

N2 - This article examines employment patterns in British retailing during the 1980s. It focuses on two debates central to contemporary economic sociology: the flexibility thesis and theories of skill and technical change. The data derive fiom the ESRC's Social Change and Economic Life Initiative and represent a sample of 72 retailing establishments fiom six localities in Britain. The article reveals that technological change had not produced much in the way of deskilling: rather, it had enskilled the work of already qualified and trained employees. Whilst part-time employment had increased in many stores, there was little evidence of any significant growth of other kinds of peripheral labour.

AB - This article examines employment patterns in British retailing during the 1980s. It focuses on two debates central to contemporary economic sociology: the flexibility thesis and theories of skill and technical change. The data derive fiom the ESRC's Social Change and Economic Life Initiative and represent a sample of 72 retailing establishments fiom six localities in Britain. The article reveals that technological change had not produced much in the way of deskilling: rather, it had enskilled the work of already qualified and trained employees. Whilst part-time employment had increased in many stores, there was little evidence of any significant growth of other kinds of peripheral labour.

U2 - 10.1080/02642069500000032

DO - 10.1080/02642069500000032

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 229

EP - 242

JO - The Service Industries Journal

JF - The Service Industries Journal

SN - 0264-2069

IS - 3

ER -